Honorary Aussie DJ Carl Cox signs to BMG ahead of new album

British superstar DJ Carl Cox, who lives half a year in Melbourne, has signed with BMG.

He joins a roster that includes Louis Tomlinson, The Prodigy, Kylie Minogue, Fatboy Slim, KSI, Quincy Jones, Roísín Murphy, Solomun, Craig David, Maya Jane Coles and Wilkinson.

“I had my first single out with BMG many years ago so I couldn’t be more pleased to be now signed there as a recording artist,” Cox said in a statement.

“Being in the studio all year and digging deep alongside BMG’s support will, I hope, make the first album something special. I can’t wait to share my music with the world.”

Cox is prepping to release in August his biography Oh Yes, Oh Yes, which he wrote with his tour manager Ian Hussey, through UK publisher White Rabbit which also handled books by XL Recordings head Richard Russell and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads fame.

Cox revealed from Melbourne last year during an episode of Dubfire’s DJs and Beers streaming series that he had written the book before the pandemic but put “a hold on it”.

“…the book isn’t finished yet. There’s still so much story to tell.  What happened afterwards with my family, where I am at, the [electronic music] scene itself, what’s going to happen in the future.”

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cox performed at over 140 virtual events including his weekly Cabin Fever show, which won Best Stream Show at the DJ Mag Awards.

Currently a resident in BBC Radio 1’s Residency series, it was recently revealed that the DJ teamed with Brighton music college WaterBear to offer a £15,000 (AU$27, 188) scholarship to an Electronic Music & Business student.

Cox is scheduled to headline the Pure 2021 music festival in November in Australia, one of the first countries where he found success outside of the UK, in the early 90s.

On his first visit, he found Melbourne had the strongest house scene in the country.

He fell in love with Victoria’s coast area and eventually bought a farm near Frankston, where Tones And I has been buying property, to chill out after tours in the northern hemisphere.

In 2009, he and music promoter Richie McNeill (who runs Hardware which promotes Pure) bought a getaway Myrtleford property in the Victorian Alpine region on impulse.

They built a five-bedroom house and put it on the market for $2 million earlier this year.